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. 2020 Jan 21:11:100250.
doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100250. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Social norms and e-motions in problematic social media use among adolescents

Claudia Marino  1   2 , Gianluca Gini  1 , Federica Angelini  1 , Alessio Vieno  1 , Marcantonio M Spada  2
Affiliations

Social norms and e-motions in problematic social media use among adolescents

Claudia Marino et al. Addict Behav Rep. .

Abstract

Introduction: Being constantly connected on social media is a "way of being" among adolescents. However, social media use can become "problematic" for some users and only a few studies have explored the concurrent contribution of social context and emotion regulation to problematic social media use. The current study aimed to test: (i) the influence of friends (i.e., their social media use and group norms about social media use); and (ii) the effects of difficulties in emotion regulation and so-called "e-motions" on adolescents' problematic social media use.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Italian secondary schools. An online questionnaire was administered to 761 adolescents (44.5% females; Mage = 15.49 years; SDage = 1.03).

Results: Path analysis showed that social norms were directly associated with problematic social media use and friends' social media use was associated with the frequency of social media use, which, in turn, was associated with problematic use. Difficulties in emotion regulation were directly and indirectly linked to problematic social media use via frequency of use and facilitating use of e-motions.

Conclusions: These findings provide support for the importance of both peer influence and emotion regulation in this context. Social norms and emotion regulation should be considered in prevention programs addressing problematic social media use in adolescents.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; Peer influence; Problematic social media use; Social norms.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Hypothesized model.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Model of the inter-relationships between the study variables. Notes: N = 746; **p < .001; *p < .01. For sake of clarity, the effects of control variables (age and gender) are not reported, but are available upon request to the first author.
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